69

Global Change Impact Assessment for Himalayan Mountain
Regions for Environmental Management andSustainable Development
Kedar Lal SHRESTHA
President, Institute for Development and Innovation
21/85 Pimbahal, Lalitpur, Nepal
e-mail: klshrestha@wlink.com.np

Abstract
The Himalayas with their unique physical, biological and human systems provide environmental
goods and services to almost one-tenth of the global population and affect in the long run the global environment. The Himalayan Mountains, however, because of their young and fragile nature coupled withsharp gradients, are particularly vulnerable to impacts of a rapidly changing climate often coupled withanthropogenic alteration of mountain landscapes due to population changes and economic activities.
People in the regions have been long marginalized and have the fewest resources and capacities to adapt
to these changes and hence are the most vulnerable.
The crucial aspects of global change impacts in the Himalayan mountain regions are ultimately
about their potential effects on ecosystems and resources as well as on the societies that depend on them.
As many of these effects are interactive with some specific thresholds, an understanding of the responseof the system to global change and the associated vulnerabilities and potential adaptations, is crucial
especially for preserving the natural resources and encouraging environmental management and sustainable development of mountain regions.
Some of the results of the research studies on global change impact assessment for the Himalayan
mountain regions are presented and discussed in this paper. The observed climatic changes are briefly
presented as are their impacts on water resources, food security and people’s livelihoods. Likewise theeffects of the process of globalization and economic liberalization on the Himalayan mountain communities are also briefly discussed.
Key words: environmental management, global change, Himalayan Mountains, impact assessment,sustainable development

1. Introduction
The Himalayan Mountains, the highest and most
massive on earth, are home to over 100 million people,
some of whom live at altitudes of over 5,000 m. These
ranges trigger orographic precipitation and control theSouth Asian Monsoon; and they store water as snow
and ice and constitute a water tower for almost
one-tenth of the world’s population living downstream
in the Indo-Gangetic plains. Due to sharp ecologicalgradients, these mountains are rich in ecodiversity andbiodiversity and are also the storehouse of uniquegene pools and many valuable medicinal plants andherbs.
Mountains environments essential to the survivalof the global ecosystem have drawn global attention
and become a subject of global concern (Messerli &Global Environmental Research
9(1)2005:69-81
printed in Japan

Ives, 1997), and mountain regions have also been referred to as ‘water towers’ (Mountain Agenda, 1998).
Because of their young and fragile nature coupledwith sharp gradients, however the Himalayan Mountains are particularly susceptible to impacts of a rapidly changing climate often coupled with anthropogenic alteration of mountain landscapes due to population changes and economic activities. The Third Assessment Report of the IPCC (IPCC, 2001) pointed
out the critical role of Himalayas in the provision ofwater to continental monsoon Asia, and also clearly
revealed their vulnerability to climate change in termsof their hydrology and water resources. Likewise, the
IPCC Report on the Regional Impacts of Climate
Change (IPCC, 1998) also highlighted the various
vulnerabilities, based on some vulnerability assessments, related to impacts of climate change on the©2005 AIRIES

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Kedar Lal SHRESTHA

Himalayan mountains, which provide goods and services essential for human survival to those living in
the region and fundamental resources for tourism andeconomic development. Moreover, the mountainregion’s political and economic marginalization creates added vulnerability due to a reduced capacity toadapt to these changes. Thus natural and socioeconomic systems in these mountain regions are at
risk, in particular, regarding the impacts of globalchange and globalization.
Due to strong barriers to transportation, communication, trade and political integration, the mountainregions were traditionally well known for their pristine ecology. The mountain people in the past survived
long with traditional resilience developed by adapting
to the use of environmental resources in a sustainable
manner. However, with rapidly growing populations
and technological innovations in communication andtransportation systems combined with linkages to a
expanding market economy, use-intensification andover-exploitation of environmental resources are leading to high rates of environmental change in the fragile ecosystems thus turning the mountain regions into
‘critical regions.’ The incumbent global change, including climate change, is putting further stress on thesystem. Consequently, the traditional resilience is being rapidly breached, leading to growing dependence
on external inputs and over-exploitation of selective
resources, threatening their sustainability. Thus thelandscapes and human groups in the mountain regions
are being simultaneously affected by global, environmental and socio-economic threats and perturbations
leading to a ‘critical stage’ as a result of globalchanges and globalization (Shrestha, 2001).
The important aspects of global change impacts are
their potential effects on ecosystems and resources aswell as on the societies that depend on them. As manyof these effects are interactive with some specificthresholds, vulnerabilities and adaptations, an understanding of responses to global change is crucial, especially for preserving natural resources and promoting environmental management and sustainable development of mountain regions.
However, the vast majority of works to date do notseem to have been structured to facilitate an overall
understanding of the interaction between climate, land
surface processes and human activities, taking into
account the specific conditions in mountain environments (BAHC, 1994; Becker & Bugmann, 1999).
Global change impacts on and interaction between
mountain hydrology and ecology, for instance, seemto be not well understood (Becker & Bugmann, 1997).
No comprehensive and comparable data are available
regarding the spatial dimensions of environmental andeconomic assets, which could illuminate priority issues where policy decisions are urgently needed tocope with global change issues in the mountains, inparticular, those in the Himalayan Mountains.
Noting the uniqueness of Himalayan ecosystems

and the regional significance and importance of studies regarding the impact of global change in the
Himalayan Mountains, a collaborative research study,
funded by the Asia Pacific Network for Global
Change Research (APN), has been undertaken withthe participation of researchers from Nepal, India andPakistan. In the context of assessing the impacts ofglobal change in particular on water resources andfood security in the mountains as well as on the livelihood of the people living in the region, some of theresults of the research study to ascertain ongoing climatic and socio-economic changes in the regions andtheir observed impacts are presented and discussed in
the present paper. Particular references are made to thethree selected watersheds in the three participating
countries, viz. the Kali Gandaki basin (28o N, 83o E) in
Nepal, the Alaknada basin (30o N, 79o E) in India andthe Siran basin (34o N, 73o E) in Pakistan, chosen as
representative mountain regions and basins draining
different parts of the Himalayas. Glaciers and biodiversity, the two unique systems in Himalaya, in thecontext of recession of glaciers and threatening of biodiversity are also treated briefly and the impacts ofglobalization on the bio-resource of Himalaya in particular are also briefly discussed.

2. Himalayan Mountains and the Ecosystems
The Himalayan range extends over 2,400 km in avast southerly arc from the bend of the Indus, marked
by Nanga Parbat (8,125 m, 35oN, 74oE) on the west,
to the Tsangpo-Dihang bend around Namche Barwa(7,755 m, 30oN, 95oE) in the east. The entire
Himalayan range extends over an area of about
460,000 km2. It is a complex of high mountains, elevated plateaus, deep gorges and extended valleys. The
Himalayas, which are now considered to be the resultof the largest continental collision on Earth, are estimated to have arisen over 45 million years ago between continental India and the Eurasian plate, compressing the crust by more than 2,000 km horizontallyand producing a large region of highlands. They are
the youngest, highest and most unstable mountain region in the world (Olschak et al., 1988). The Himalayas are the loftiest mountain complex, with ten of
the fourteen world’s peaks exceeding 8,000 m and 31
peaks exceeding 7,600 m in elevation. The series ofnarrow chains of high mountains with their crest-lines
rarely falling below 5,500 m are breached by anumber of trans-Himalayan rivers and their tributaries
that play an active role in eroding and shaping thehigh mountains, producing deep valleys that wind
between the peaks and cut deep gorges that accentuate
the heights of the surrounding mountains, all adding to
the grandeur of the Himalayas (Subba, 2001).
The numerous earthquakes in the region clearly
indicate continuing active orogenic movement in the
Himalayan region. Still being thrust upwards by

Global Change Impact Assessment for Himalayan Mountainmassive tectonic forces, the Himalayan Mountains arethus inherently structurally unstable, leading to ongoing seismic activity and severe landslides. More than adozen earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.5 or greater
have been recorded over the last hundred years in the
Himalayas. A physiographic section of the central
Himalayas in Nepal with their various tectonic thrustlines is depicted in Fig.1a. Similarly, Fig. 1b shows
NOAA satellite imagery of the central Himalayas witha white line sketch over it of a map of Nepal, which
has a length of about 885 km (east to west) and avarying width of about 193 km (north to south).
Fig. 1c depicts a typical landscape of the Himalayan
mountain region.

Fig. 1aGreat differences in altitude, latitude and longitude
have created vast variation in microhabitats throughout this range. Along the north-south section, for instance, the altitude in the central Himalayan region in
Nepal varies from 60 m in the south at Terai (foothillsof the Himalayas) to 8,848 m at Mount Everest in thenorth within a short distance of 90 to 120 km. As aresult, variations in climate as well as vegetation types
ranging from tropical and subtropical to alpine ones
are to be found in a short spatial and altitudinal range.
Similarly, while the eastern Himalayas are wet andhydrophytes constitute the dominant vegetation, xerophytes are the dominant vegetation in the drier western Himalayas. Due to such a sharp ecological

Physiographic section of central Himalayas in Nepal, showing various
ecological zones and geological structures.

Fig. 1b NOAA satellite imagery of central
Himalayan region.
(the white lines indicate a map of Nepal)

Fig. 1c71

A typical landscape of the Himalayan mountain region.

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Kedar Lal SHRESTHA

gradient, the Himalayan Mountains are thus very richin biodiversity, which includes many valuable medicinal plants and herbs as well as wildlife. Longitudinalvariations of some of the features along the Himalayas
are briefly summarized in Table 1.
These Himalayan ranges trigger orographic
precipitation and influence the South Asian Monsoon;
store water as snow and ice and thus constitute a‘water tower’ for almost one-tenth of the world’s
population living downstream in the Indo-Gangetic
plains. These Mountains are not only the weather
makers for the subcontinent, regulating the monsoon
cycle and protecting the subcontinental plains fromcold Central Asian air during winter, but in particularthey provide water as a most valuable resource to themountain people themselves and to the growing population living downstream. Three main river systems
arise in the Himalayas, namely the Indus, the Ganges
and the Brahmaputra systems. The estimated annual
flow in billion cubic meters is 200 for Upper Indus,
450 for the Ganges, and 550 for the Brahmaputra
River (Subba, 2001). These great rivers form themost important water source for South Asia, supporting almost half a billion people.
But the Himalayan ‘water tower’ is obviously sensitive to the prevailing climate and environment in themountains and thus vulnerable to climatic and environmental changes. Human pressure as well as climatic change and variability have a significant impact
on the water availability, both in terms of quantity andquality, and also the feedback between mountains andclimate. Changes in the snowfall pattern observed in

the Himalayas (Verghese & Iyer, 1993), for instance,
will have wider implications—from a marked impact
on the monsoon regime to seasonal runoff and vegetation cover, including agriculture. Changes in thehydrological regime, likewise, will also trigger episodes of extreme events.

3. Socio-Economic Setting
The Himalayan range, including its directly adjacent areas that are home to about 100 million people,
is the most populous mountain ranges in the world
with some people living at altitudes of over 5,000 m.
While the migration factor rather than the fertility rate
has remained an important determinant in the population dynamics of the highland areas, there is now evidence of an increasing trend of population growth in
the region.
The total population of Bhutan, Indian Himalayanstates and highland Nepal alone comes to about
31.3 million. Aggregation of political territories into
discrete sections of the Himalaya provides a moremeaningful regional pattern. The area, population andpopulation density of the different zones are presented
in Table 2, treating the portion covered by Nepal as
the Central Himalayan zone and the rest to the east
and west as eastern and western zones of theHimalayas.
There is wide variation in population density witha progressively higher population density from theeast to the west. While each square kilometer in theeastern Himalayas carries 19.4 persons, the same area

Table 1 Spatial variations in physical and socio-cultural parameters along the Himalayas.

Description
LatitudeLongitude
Snowline
Tree line
Predominant Species(lower elevations)
Vegetation Regime
Annual Average Precipitation
Main River System
Drainage Area
Average Annual Runoff
Specific Runoff
Number of Languages
CultureWestern Himalayas
37oN
72oE
4,800 m4,000 mCentral Himalayas
28oN
81oE
5,000 m3,900 mEastern Himalayas
28oN
97oE
3,500-4,900 m
4,200 mPinus variety

Shorea to Pinus

Shorea robusta

Xerophytic
700-2,000 mm
Indus
1,263,000 km2
3,850 m3/s
3.05
Indo Aryan: 11
Tibeto Burman: 9
Caucasoids

Transitional
3,500 mm
Ganges
1,075,000 km2
15,000 m3/s
13.95
Indo Aryan: 5
Tibeto Burman: 11
Mixed

Hydrophytic
Up to 10,000 mm
Brahmaputra
940,000 km2
20,000 m3/s
21.28
Tibeto-Burman: 11
Mongoloids

Table 2 Populations and population density distribution along the Himalayas.

By ZoneArea%

Population%

Western Himalayas
Central Himalayas
Eastern Himalayas
Himalayan Region

208,359
113,162
137,839459,360

45.4
24.6
30.0
100.0

18,815,723
9,863,019
2,671,015
31,349,757

60.0
31.5
8.5
100.0

Density
Persons/km2
90.3
87.2
19.4
68.2

Global Change Impact Assessment for Himalayan Mountaincarries 87.2 persons in the central sector and 90.3 persons in the western sector. Thus the population densityof the western and central Himalayas is about 4.5 to
4.7 times higher than that of the eastern Himalayas.
The verticality of the mountain landscape makes
transport and communication difficult. While this isolation prevents access to many facilities, it has also
acted as a barrier, preserving the diverse cultural andethnic identities of the mountain people. The culturaland ethnic diversity of the region is thus remarkable,with each group of people adapting to the demands ofthe region in their own unique way. The Himalayas
are wedged between the centers of two Asian civilizations, viz. the Caucasoid and the Mongoloid, and represent a cultural divide with the Caucasoids spreadingover the entire western Himalayas and the Mongoloids
being more numerous east of the Gandak basin.
People who live in the Himalayas are in generalpoor and face special difficulties. The rugged terrain
makes road construction difficult, and landslides often
damage roads once built, particularly during the monsoon season. Access to essential goods and services isin general difficult. Economic activities in the mountains are often hampered by lack of access to thewell-organized market economy of the plains. Educational opportunities in the mountain regions are limited, and unemployment is a major issue.
The subsistence economy of the Himalayas varies
from shifting cultivation and seasonal farming to nomadic herding, supplemented by petty trade. In someareas, increased road access and other transportation
facilities in recent decades have facilitated the marketing of local products and crops/livestock with comparative advantages vis-à-vis the lowlands. There appears to be an increasing trend of crop diversification
into cash crops, with increasing acreages under apple,
citrus and vegetables.
In many mountain areas, the center of political andadministrative power is located far from the population in the higher mountain ranges. Government policies are seldom created to reflect the realities andneeds of the mountain people. Rather, mountain resources are stated to be systemically exploited for the
benefit of those who live on the plains. This combination of factors creates a situation in which mountainpeople become progressively marginalized.

4. Climatic Changes
The climate of the Himalayan Mountain region ishighly diverse. With a tropical climate in the foothills
in the South, it changes with altitude and latitude totemperate and to alpine at the top of the high mountains. It also varies considerably with slope angle, aspect, and local relief, e.g. rain shadows caused byhigher mountains. Thus the mountains have a mosaic
of local ‘topoclimates.’ Nevertheless, analysis of
long-term data for different parts of the Himalayas hasrevealed a general trend of increasing temperatures73

and changes in precipitation and precipitation patterns.
Some of the results of such analyses are presented anddiscussed next.
4.1 Change in temperature
Trend analysis for the maximum, minimum andmean temperatures at seven meteorological stations inand around the Kali Gandaki river basin in the Nepalese Himalayas with available data for about 30 years
from the 1970s have indicated a temporal variation
with positive trends for six stations and a negative
trend for one station. The observed mean trend values
in the basin for maximum and minimum temperatures
are 0.026 and 0.024oC/year respectively, while theobserved average trend for the mean temperature is
0.025oC/year.
Earlier, analysis of maximum temperature datafrom 49 stations in Nepal for the period of 1971-1994
revealed warming trends after 1977 ranging from
0.06o to 0.12oC/year in the middle mountain and
Himalayan regions while the southern plain regions
showed a warming trends of less than 0.03oC/year(Shrestha et al., 1999). Likewise the analysis also revealed a greater temperature rise during winter in the
Nepalese Himalayan regions.
An analysis of climatic data for 1961-2000 from
the Murree observatory in the Siran watershed, a representative site of the moist Himalayas in Pakistan,also indicated for maximum and minimum temperatures, rising trends of 0.02oC/year and 0.01oC/year,
respectively. Other observatories representing low
elevations of the moist Himalayas in Pakistan, meanwhile, indicated a declining trend in both maximum
and minimum temperatures at rates of 0.01oC/year and
0.02oC/year respectively. In an earlier similar analysis,
warming in the northernmost mountains of Pakistan
was reported to have occurred in three later decades ofthe past century, with rises in mean temperatures ranging between 0.5oC and 1.0oC during 1961-1990 ascompared to the preceding three decades of 19311960. Similarly, maximum temperatures showedwarming of 0.8 to 1.2oC, and minimum temperatures,
an increase of 0.5 to 0.9oC between the three decade
periods compared (Elahi, M. & Study Team, 1998).
In the Alaknanda valley, the rate of temperaturerise during 1994 to 2002 was noted to be 0.15oC/year
while, at another nearby Himalayan station at Nainital,
the rate of temperature increase during 1987 to 1996
was found to be 0.03oC/year.
Table 3 summarizes the above-observed trends intemperature variations in different parts of theHimalayas.
4.2 Changes in precipitation, precipitation
patterns and extreme events
A large spatial variation in annual precipitation exists along the Himalayan range, ranging in magnitude
from almost 10,000 mm in the east to less than
200 mm in the west. While the eastern region receives

74

Kedar Lal SHRESTHA
Table 3 Observed trends in temperature variation in different parts of the Himalayas.

Country

Location

Year

Temp.

Kali Gandaki

1970s-1990s

Tmax
Tmin
Tmean

Nepal

1971-1994

Tmax

Siran

1961-2000

Nepal

Pakistan
Northern Mountains of Pakistan
India

Alaknanda
Nainitalalmost 80% of its total annual precipitation during thesummer monsoon, this ratio decreases gradually to thewestern region, which receives less than 50% of its
total annual. In the Far-Western regions, the westerlies
in winter provide the bulk of the annual precipitationand this decreases towards the easterly regions.
An analysis of mean annual rainfall over Nepal
suggests that, the middle mountains around central
Nepal receive the highest amount of rainfall, on average over 5,000 mm per annum, while rainfall decreases
northward and in the high mountains. Analyzing precipitation data from 1971 to 2000 at 11 stations in andaround the Kali Gandaki basin, all the stations, except
one at Jomsom, indicated increasing trends in monsoon precipitation ranging from 1.6 to 31 mm/year.
The Jomsom station indicated a negative trend inmonsoon precipitation of 0.4 mm/year. As the stations
with positive trends were the ones that were alreadyreceiving higher rainfall, continuation of the trend
would imply greater future vulnerability in these regions to floods and landslides due to increased
precipitation.
By defining precipitation with values more or lessthan one standard deviation, ±1σ, of the time series
for individual stations as precipitation anomalies, it
was observed that in the Kali Gandaki basin, a deficitof extreme precipitation events (values less than –1σ)dominated during the decade of 1971-1980, while during the decade of 1991-2000, an excess of extreme
events (+σ) dominated. The intervening decade of
1981-1990 exhibited no significant difference between
excess and deficit of extreme events. Figure 2 depicts
such anomalies both for annual as well as for monsoon precipitation at one of the stations, Lete. Thisagain indicates an increasing tendency of excess rainfall in the later decades of the century.
In the Siran valley in Pakistan, an increase in annual precipitation by almost 40% was noted between
1981 and 1998. Likewise, precipitation increased byabout 25% between 1961 and 1999 at the Murree
station, a representative moist Himalayan area inPakistan at a middle altitude of 2,100 m. At lower
elevations of the moist Himalayas, the increase wasmoderate and in the sub-tropical mountains, a

1931-1960
1960-1990
1994-2002
1987-1996

Mean=1247.4mm
Sd=204.1

Tmax
Tmin
Tmax
Tmin
Tmean
Tmean

Variation
C / year
0.026
0.024
0.025
0.06-0.12
0.03 (Terai)
0.02
0.01
0.03-0.04
0.02-0.03
0.15
0.03
o

Annual rainfall anomaly at
Lete
y=16.366× −241.25
R2=0.4922

Fig. 2aAnnual rainfall anomaly at Lete, KaliGandaki Basin.

Mean=767.3mm
Sd=156.9

Monsoon rainfall anomaly at
Lete
y=12.321× −184.38
2

R =0.4633

Fig. 2b Monsoon rainfall anomaly at Lete, KaliGandaki Basin.

negative trend in rainfall of about 20% was noted
between 1971 and 2000.
Similarly, analysis of rainfall data from 1965 to2001 at Nainital, a hill station in the western part of
the Indian Himalayas indicated decreasing rate ofrainfall of 15 mm/year. Other stations at higher altitudes did not have long-term data and the available
short-term did not indicate any consistent trend.

Global Change Impact Assessment for Himalayan Mountain75

In mountain regions, hydrology is a function of topography and meteorology. River flow data of themountain areas provide valuable information on thehydrology of the region.
An analysis of trends in discharge carried out for
selected river basins in Nepal with more than 30 yearsof observed data has shown a decreasing trend in annual discharge in large basins like the Karnali andKoshi with no significant changes in the Narayani

basin. Since all the major rivers in these basins originate from the high mountains in the Himalayas andtheir flows peak during the monsoon season carrying
in general more than 10 times the flow during the dry
period, it may be inferred that the declining trends are
due to a trend of lower monsoon flows thereby implying less monsoon precipitation across the high mountains. Meanwhile, rivers that originate from the middle
hills and flow east-west along the Siwalik Zone haveincreasing trend of mean annual discharge. This tends
to suggest more monsoon precipitation in the middle
hills, the origins of these rivers.
The discharge data for the Siran River shows an
overall increasing trend of about 5.8 million m3/year,
which is about one percent of the average annual flow
during the past 32 years from 1968 to 2000. Likewise,
the observed discharge data for the Kali Gandaki
River for 36 years from 1964 to 2000 exhibit an increasing trend of nearly 142 million m3/year, which isagain about 1% of the average annual flow. The
observed maximum discharge data for the Alaknanda
River from 1980 to 2000 also indicate an increasing
trend of 1,767 million m3/year (2.8% of the averageannual flow). The observed variations in river flow of
the three selected rivers are presented in Figs. 3a, 3b
and 3c.
As climatic change and variability as well as human pressure have a significant impact on the Himalayan Mountains’ role as a ‘water tower,’ the sensitivity of mountain waters to climatic and hydrologicalFig. 3aFig. 3b Variations in annual flow of Alaknanda River.

4.3 Climatic variability and extreme events
The entire Himalayan region is vulnerable to hazards due to climatic variability and associated torrential rainfalls. Flash floods are generally caused by highintensity rainfall followed by debris flow or landslides,
often resulting in blockages of river channels. The
formation of temporary dams due to landslides andtheir subsequent breaching cause havoc and panic in
the river valleys and downstream areas due to sudden
rises in water level. The Alaknanda Valley has a long
history with several examples of such bitter experiences. In course of the present study, the frequency ofsuch cloudburst events was found to be increasing in
the last two decades. Likewise, analyses of climatic
data for over 70 years for Pakistan have indicated anincrease in storm precipitation in the northern mountains in the decade of 1991-2000. Analysis of extreme
events in Nepal has also indicated an increasing trend.

5. Hydrology and Water Resource

Variations in annual flow of Kali Gandaki Riverat Kotagaon station.
1
0.9

VOLUME (MAF)

0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
1968

1970

1972

1974

1976

1978

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

YEARS

Fig. 3c

Variations in annual flow of Siran River at Phulra station.

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

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Kedar Lal SHRESTHA

change in the context of changing environment needs
yet to be understood well to assess the vulnerability of
the Himalayan water tower.

6. Agriculture and Food Security
At present, more than 43% of the Himalayan region has a mean annual temperature of less than 5oC
and is therefore unsuitable for crop growth. Further,no more than 38% of the area has a growing period of
more than 150 days and is suitable for agriculture.
Subsistence agriculture is the mainstay of inhabitantsof the mountainous region, which is characterized bysmall landholdings distributed in tiny crop fields overrugged terrain with a limited scope for irrigation.
Areas above about 2,500 m elevation grow only one
crop a year while two crops are generally grown in ayear below this elevation. Humid and semi-humid
mountain regions provide somewhat more favorable
conditions for vegetative growth as compared to arid
and semi-arid mountain regions.
The mountain farming system is in general foundto be very complex and diverse, characterized bystrong linkages between the three spheres of crop production, livestock ranching and forestry. Field surveys
conducted in selected mountain areas in the Himalayas indicate that crop production in general supplies
about 3-9 months of the annual household food demand and mountain households in general are left
with little marketable surplus. Almost each household
seems to keep small numbers of livestock for domestic needs and for some extra income. Certain groupsof people in highlands in proximity to pastureland stillengage in transhumance. Transhumance is moreprevalent in the western Himalayan regions. Forests
are utilized for domestic, agricultural and commercial
purposes. Off-farm employment opportunities are limited locally. On average, most of the households havesome of their members engaged in temporal migration.
A high rate of labour migration indicates low local
income opportunities and suggests that labour remittances are an important source of income for local
households. Marginal and rain fed crop fields are being abandoned by the people, as further fragmentationof landholdings is not possible and young people are
migrating out of the region for jobs elsewhere. Suchincidences are now becoming more common.
Enhancing economic viability and the potential forincreasing food and income from small and marginal
farms in the mountains with declining productivity isa challenge being faced in the mountain areas. Realizing that subsistence farming, which focuses on cultivation of cereals, is no longer economically viable as
the income from crop production is very low and thesoil erosion rate is high, there is now a growing tendency to supplement/replace cereal crops with horticultural and vegetable crops. Nevertheless, the overall trend of declining fertility and productivity, increasing soil erosion, reduced cropping intensity, in-creased mono-cropping, and increased use of chemical
inputs have raised concern for long-term sustainabilityof the farming system in the mountain regions.
Global change includes climate change and increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration, so it appears
that agriculture in the Himalayan mountain regions
will bear mixed impacts. Certain crops have alreadybeen found in the Mustang area in Nepal to havecrossed their earlier crop growing elevation limits andmoved higher up. A spatial shift of cultivated areas tohigher elevations is apparent, thereby increasing cultivated areas as well as production and productivity ofcertain crops. However, it is likely that other effects
like increased water requirements of crops, pest problems, crop diseases, extreme climatic events, etc., may
counteract the positive effects.

7. Threatened Unique Systems
Himalayan glaciers and biodiversity constituteunique systems being threatened by global change,
including globalization. The threatened systems arebriefly discussed next along with the consequences ofthese impacts.
7.1 Glaciers, glacial lakes and glacial lake
outburst flooding
It is estimated that the Himalayas have nearly
1,500 glaciers covering an area of about 33,000 km2(Dyurgerov & Meier, 1997). Some other estimateshave put the area covered by Himalayan glaciers ataround 100,000 km2, with maximum seasonal snow
cover as high as 1.5 × 106 km2 and the amount ofwater in the glaciers and snow cover to be around12,000 km3 (Bahadur, 1998). The Himalayan glacierslie astride the boundary zone between monsoonal andwesterly atmospheric influences, strongly affecting
precipitation (in the form of rain and snow) andhydrological runoff conditions in the region. These
enormous snow and ice fields have a significant cooling effect on the immediate vicinity and the region asa whole. The icy conditions in the Himalayas rival
those existing in the polar regions and therefore they
are sometimes referred to as a ‘third pole.’ Thus, theextensive Himalayan snow and ice fields act as a great
refrigerator, cooling the earth’s environment. The
meltwater contributions from the mountains apparently lead even to reorganization of oceanic circulations.
Snow cover, glaciers and permafrost contributesignificant amounts of meltwater to perennial Himalayan rivers like the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra
as well as their tributaries. The Himalayan rivers supply an estimated 8,500 km3 of water annually.
Roughly 10% of this volume of water comes frommeltwater contributions. The remaining amount isgenerated from rainfall. The glaciers act as buffers andregulate the runoff water supply from the highmountains to the plains during both dry and wet spells

Global Change Impact Assessment for Himalayan Mountain(Bahadur, 1998). These rivers are in turn the lifelinesof nearly half a billion people living in the river basins,
which provide them fresh water just when it is mostneeded in the dry hot season before the monsoon.
The Himalayan glaciers constitute a unique system
according to the definition of IPCC (IPCC, 2001) andare sensitive to environmental variables including climate. Being potentially vulnerable to climate change
and variability, they also serve as good indicators ofclimate change and variability.
7.1.1 Recession of glaciers
Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster thanin any other part of the world. The mean equilibrium-line altitude at which snow accumulation isequal to snow ablation for the glaciers is estimated to
be about 50-80 m higher than during the first half ofthe 19th century (Pender, 1995).
The 26-kilometer long Gangotri glacier in India,
for instance, has been reported to be retreating fast.
From observations dating back to 1842, the rate ofrecession of the snout (the point at which the glacierends) has been found to increase more than
two-and-a-half fold per year. Between 1842 and 1935,
the glacier was receding at an average rate of 7.3 m
every year, whereas between 1935 and 1990, the rateof recession had gone up to 18 m a year. Available

records suggest that the Gangotri glacier is currently
retreating by about 30 m yr-1. The average rates ofretreat of some of the Glaciers in the Indian Himalayas as reported in various literatures are presented inTable 4.
Likewise, various field studies including those carried out between 1994 to 1996 in the Nepalese Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau to obtain basic knowledge
on retreating glaciers and assess the impact of recent
global warming on the Himalayas found almost all theglaciers in the area to be shrinking fast (Nakao et al.,1997). The follow-up field study carried out between
1997 and 1999 further verified the rapid shrinking of
the glaciers as well as accelerated rates of their shrinkage (Ageta et al., 2001). Table 5 gives the rates of retreat of some of the studied glaciers (IHAS, 2001) in
the Nepalese Himalayas.
Glacial retreat has immediate implications fordownstream river flows. In rivers fed by glaciers, theriver flows first increase, including the dry period
flows that are supported by glacier melt, as morewater is released due to melting of snow in long-term
storage due to global warming. As the glacier getssmaller and the volume of meltwater reduces, dry
period flows will no longer be supported and riverflows will decline to well below present levels. The
duration of the period of increased flows will depend

Table 4 Rates of retreat of some of the Glaciers in the Indian Himalayas.
Glacier
Triloknath Glacier (Himachal Pradesh)
Pindari Glacier (Uttar Pradesh)
Milam Glacier (Uttar Pradesh)
Ponting Glacier (Uttar Pradesh)
Chota Shigri Glacier (Himachal Pradesh)
Bara Shigri Glacier (Himachal Pradesh)
Gangotri Glacier (Uttar Pradesh)
Zemu Glacier (Sikkim)
Shankulpa

Observation
Period1969-1995
1845-1966
1849-1957
1909-1984
1906-1957
1986-1995
1977-1995
1935-1976
1977-1990
1909-1965
1977-1984
1881-1957

Retreat of
Snout (m)
400
2,840
1,350
990
262
60
650
600
364
44
194
518

Average Retreat of
Glacier (m/year)
15.4
135.2
12.5
13.2
5.1
6.7
36.1
14.6
28
0.2
27.7
6.8

Table 5 Rate of retreat of some of the glaciers in the Nepalese Himalayas.
Glacier
Rikha Shamba(Western Nepal)
Yala(Central Nepal)

AX 010(Eastern Nepal)

Observation Period
1974-1994
1994-1998
1998-1999
1982-1987
1987-1989
1989-1994
1994-1996
1978-1989
1989-1991
1991-1995
1995-1996
1996-1997
1997-1998
1998-1999

77

Retreat of Snout
(m)
215.8
72.8
11.5

30
28
12
0
26
13
51

Average Rate of Retreat(m/year)
10.8
18.2
11.5
–0.5
3.4
3.9
4.3
2.7
14.0
3.0
0
25.9
13.5
50.9

78

Kedar Lal SHRESTHA

on glacier size and the rate at which the glacier melts;
the smaller the glacier, the shorter lived the increase inflows and the sooner the onset of reduction in flows.

VOLUME (MAF)

7.1.2 Observed changes in flows of snow fed
riversThe measured annual flows of the River Indus at
two gauging stations have been exhibiting a continuous increase (Figs. 4a & 4b).
The station at Pratap bridge, which is at a higher
altitude than that at Qila Bisham shows an annual increasing trend of about 7.6 m3/s, while the station at
Qila Bisham shows one of about 3.8 m3/s. Almost allof the river’s inflow comes from snow and glacial
melt at these stations. Likewise, the annual flow of
the Kali Gandaki River showed an increasing trend

between 1964 and 2000 of about 4.5 m3/s and the
Alaknanda River also exhibited an increasing trend in
its annual flow of about 56.06 m3/s between 1980 and
2001. Similarly, glacial discharge of the Ganga’s
headwaters (Fig. 5) indicated a sharp increase in summer flow during August and September with an average increasing trend of 5.3 m3/s between 1994 and2000 (Hasnain et al., 2002).
All these observed increases in flow of snow fed
rivers apparently indicate the impact of global warming in enhancing flows due to increased melting ofsnow in long-term storage. However there is a need to
study in further detail the relation between snow melt
and river flows with good data spread over a longer
period in order to assess the impact and develop scenarios for future flows.

VOLUME (MAF)

Fig. 4a Variations in annual flow of Indus River at Pratapgarh Bridge.

Fig. 4b

Variations in annual flow of Indus River at Qila Bisham.

Fig. 5 Variations in glacial discharge of Ganga Headwaters.

Global Change Impact Assessment for Himalayan Mountain

7.1.3 Glacial lakes and GLOFs
Moreover, as glaciers retreat, glacial lakes form
behind some of the already exposed terminal moraines(Fig. 6). Rapid accumulation of water in glacial lakes,
particularly in those adjacent to receding glaciers, attimes lead to a sudden breaching of the unstable ‘dam’
behind which they have formed. The resultant discharges of huge amounts of water and debris cause
Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs). There havealready been several such instances of GLOFs thathave had catastrophic effects downstream, leading tohuge losses of life, property and public infrastructure.
Table 6 shows some of the estimated numbers ofglaciers, glacial lakes and potential GLOFs in Nepal
and Bhutan based on recent studies using satellite imagery and aerial survey data.
7.2

Threatened Biodiversity
One-tenth of the world’s known species of higher
altitude plants and animals occur in the Himalayas.
The sharp variations in mountain environment with

79

altitude result in a vast number of microhabitats, one
reason for the extraordinary biodiversity of the region.
Apparently the geographic isolation, glaciations
and a varied history of species migration and/or evolution all together have led to high degrees of biodiversity in the alpine environment of the Himalayas. As areservoir of genetic resources, the Himalayas are oneof the most important areas of the world. The easternregions are in particular exceptionally rich in biodiversity. In addition, they are important sources of genes
for the wild relatives of important plants, trees andcrops.
Biodiversity is being lost in these regions becauseof human activities, especially land degradation andthe overuse of resources. In 1995, approximately 10%of known species in the Himalayas were listed as
threatened, and the number of species on the verge ofextinction has increased since then (IPCC, 2001). Additionally, global warming is rapidly changing theHimalayas’ unique and diverse mountain habitats. The
accumulated stresses of climate change are disrupting
the ecology of mountain and highland systems, andthe plants and animals that are dependent on them arealready facing a survival crisis.

8. Globalization and Its Impact on
Himalayan Resources
The Himalayan Mountains are faced with a rangeof new problems in the context of rapid globalizationand economic liberalization. Globalization through its
driving market forces, such as short-term profitability
and external demands, has promoted selectivity andnarrow specialization in the choice of production activities and encouraged intense and indiscriminate
resource use leading to overexploitation of niche opportunities and resources with little concern for environmental consequences. The negative impacts ofglobalization and new trade policies on local production systems are already visible in many parts of the
Hindu Kush-Himalayan region (Jodha, 2000). Narrowspecializations in cash crops, including selected horticulture with intense use of chemical inputs, a focus on
monocultures, and reduced diversification at the farmlevel are now all apparent along with over-extractionof niche resources with accompanying negative impacts at the local level.
The key challenge for ensuring the prosperity ofmountain regions is to promote awareness of the impacts of globalization, particularly at the micro- andFig. 6 A Glacier with Glacial Lake.
Table 6 Glaciers, glacial lakes and potential GLOFs in Nepal and Bhutan.
Glaciers
Country

Glacial Lakes

NumberArea (km2)

Ice Reserves(km3)

NumberArea (km2)

Nepal
3,252
Bhutan677
Source: Mool et al., 2001a & b

5,323.89
1,316.71

481.23127.25

2,323
2,674

75.70
106.77

Potential
GLOFs(Number)(2001)
2024

80

Kedar Lal SHRESTHA

meso-level, and to strengthen traditional niche markets while identifying new opportunities through institutional and infrastructural support as well as throughlocal participation and partnership with the private
sector.
Recent research conducted to assess the impacts ofglobalization and trade liberalization on the livelihoodof mountain farmers in South Asia have clearly converged on the point that rapid trade liberalizationand globalization may erode their sustainable livelihood options, unless specific measures are taken up to
ensure sustainable livelihoods, especially to the mountain farmers, as they cannot bear the brunt of rapid
globalization and trade liberalization (Munir &Adhikari, 2003).

9. Conclusions
Himalayan mountain ecosystems, which provide
valuable resources and services to those living in theregions as well as to populations in the lowlands, arebeing threatened by increasing global change impacts
on the Earth, most of which are human-induced andglobal in scale.
Analysis of some of the available meteorological
data for selected regions of the Himalayan mountainregions has clearly indicated a warming trend in mostof the regions as well as a changing pattern of precipitation, with the monsoon rainfall being reduced in thehigh mountains and enhanced in the medium altitude
mountains.
A clear consequence and important indicator ofthis is the observed retreat of Himalayan glaciers,
which highlights the impact of global climate change
at high elevations and the consequences for lowland
agriculture, hydroelectric power, ecotourism and society in general. Changes in snowmelt as well as the
biological community covering the mountain watershed equally affect water storage and water yield tothe downstream regions as well.
The rapidly growing population and greater physical, administrative and market integration of mountainand upland agriculture with mainstream systems havefundamentally altered local resource management
practices leading to resource use intensification andoverexploitation. Thus the landscapes and communities in the mountain regions are being simultaneously
affected by environmental and socio-economic threatsand perturbations.
Himalayan mountain systems are thus moving
along a trajectory that fits clearly within the rubric ofcritically affected regions where high rates of environmental change are manifest in fragile ecosystems coupled with economies strongly dependent on local environmental resources and limited response capability.
The major challenges in research in the Himalayan
Mountain region are to understand, describe andmodel better the impacts of ongoing global change

processes in the region and their complex interrelations and interaction, and to use the required integrated models (model systems), after their verificationand validation with reference to recent and past observations and monitoring programmes, for scenariobased simulations into the future. Based on such
future projections of environmental and socio-economic conditions in the fragile Himalayan Mountainecosystems, proper and efficient participatory methodologies, policies, strategies and action programmes
need to be developed to help to ensure sustainable
development and break the prevalent cycle of poverty,
migration and environmental degradation. This includes intensified and more comprehensive studies ofextreme events, such as droughts, floods, landslides,
debris flows, GLOFs and the like, which are expected
to increase in frequency and scale. Better preparedness of threatened communities for such events andmeasures for improved disaster prevention are required in order to avoid or mitigate as far as possible
potential damages and losses.

Acknowledgement
The paper is based on the work carried out under aresearch project funded by the Asia Pacific Network
for Global Change Research (APN) through the
Global change SysTem for Analysis Research andTraining (START). START has also supported the
project in various other ways. Their support and cooperation are gratefully acknowledged. Grateful thanks
are also due to all the colleagues from the participating countries, viz. India, Nepal and Pakistan, for theirgenerous help and valuable contributions.
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